Heavy-duty plunger and packing therefor



Aug, 4, 192s. 1,548,580

G. CHRISTENSON HEAVY DUTY }.".'|`.1UNGIEIR AND PACKING THEREFOR Filed June 17, 1924 Patented Aug. 4, 1925. u

UiuT-izi) STATES 1,548,580 PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE CHRIsTENsom-OF NORTH PILAINFIELn. NEW JERSEY, AssIG'NoR To JOHNS! MANVILLE, INCORPORATED, or NEW YORK. N. Y.. A CORPORATION -or NEW YORK.

HEAVY'fDUT'Y -PLUNGER .AND PACKING THEREFR.

Q.application mea June 17, 1924. serial No. 720.669.

T o all whom t may concern: Be it known 'that I, GEORGE Cuius'rENsoN, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of North Plainfield, inl the 6 county of Somerset andState ot' New Jersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in Heavy-Duty PlungersI and Packings Therefor, ot which the following is a specification.'

This invention relates ,y to heavy-duty plungers, lifting bailers or swabs, socalled, and is particularly concerned with devices adapted to create a Huid-tightconnection ,under very great pressures between a stem or hoisting rod and an irregular and broken interior cylindricalsurface, such as the ordinary tubular casing of a deep well.

It has been customary -practice under some conditions to elevate liquid from4 oil wells and deep artesian wells .where the liow is'not spontaneous by the sO-called swabbing or bailing method in which the well-casing is employed as the cylinder of a lift pump, the 4plunger usually comprising a weighted stein attached to a hoisting' cable. This stein is ordinarily tubular, and is provided witha series of packings adapted to bridge the space between the stem and the interior surface of the casing. The tubular stem may se be closed against low in one direction by the usualcheck valve, to enable the liquids to pass the ldescending 'swab which is withdrawn by hoisting the cable, thus bringing with it the superimposed column of liquid.

TheV pressure to which the packings are often subjected in swabbing practice are very great, and this, together with the mechanically-imperfect interior surface of the well-casing has resulted in rapid destruction' 40 of and unreliable and incllicient operation of packing devices heretofore relied upon.

Objects of this invention are t provide a lifting plunger for pumping ol swabbing adapted efficiently to form a. tluidtight con- 'L nection with the walls of a cylinder or well casing; to provide af'packing capable of withstanding very great pressures and adapted to form a fluid-tight connection with a relatively imperfect cylindrical surface; to

provide improved reinforcing Ineans for protecting 'the packing against collapse by pressure and against broken or irregular surfaces in rough and uneven pipes, and thus to prevent muti-lation and injury to the rpaelt'ing: and inA general. to provide a plunger packing having features` o'l construction permitting etlicient Vperformance inthe indicated environment.

The invention is illustrated in preferred forms in the accompanying drawingslin whieh- Fig. l is a. vertical sectional elevation of a swab in a well-casing,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a similar section showing a modification. u

Referring to the drawings, -the swab may comprise a tubular stem l which is shown within a cylindrical well-casing 2 having abutting pipe sections held together by collars 3. A portion ol the stem 1 may be eX-.

teriorly screw-thrcaded to receive a nut 4 on which rests a 'calyX 5 which is provided with a concave upper surlacc 6 to suppoi't the packing cup or sleeve 7, 8. of which only one the complete cup to resist the relatively great i longitudinal and radial pressures and rough treatment to which it is subjected. One preferred form of packing comprises asolidof i revolution integrally moulded, comp-rising portions of different grades or qualities of the moulded rubber compound (0r rubber substitute) one of which` kinds of compound when subjected to vulcanizing under the same temperature and pressure as the other, will become relatively stili' and rigid, whereas the other kind of compound under the same treatment will become a relatively flexible and relatively yielding resilient body. For example the cup 7, 8 may comprise a heel portion made as an annulus 8, as illustrated by the more heavily shaded section, the upper boundary of which extends inwardly and upwardly (in integral continuity with the remainder of the'"cup) to form substantially au cone. Annulus 8 may be made of a rubber compound heavily charged with sulphur, and if desired with other vulcanizing agents orfacilitators, and so adapted when finished by subjecting it in a mould to a vulcan/izing heat and pressure to present a very great elastic resistance to deformation of shape by crushing or shearing, but nevertheless to be reasonably extensible under great pressures. Rubber dompounds capable of producing the results indicated are well known in the art'. I

The intermediate or central regions b of the cup 7, 8 is preferably made of a softer, less heavily sulphuretted,'material and therefore', when vulcanized, provides a more easily extensible and more flexible compound than the annulus 8. Preferably the integral cup 7, 8 is a solid of revfolution approximately of the form shown in the drawlngsl The portion above the calyx 5 comprises in general a llaringor conical annular solid tapered away to an edge @preferably substantially larger at the lip c than at the heel part 8. As indicated by .heavily shaded lines the'regicn of the cupnear the lip o may be of the more heavily sulphuretted rubber compound, of a rigidity and stiffness com arable with the heel portion 8. It may be esirable under some conditions to vary the proportions ofthe packing cup, especially the relative dimensions of the relatively flexible intermediate portion b. A preferred construction comprisesa -renforoement serving as a guide and protector for the exterior surface of the cups 7, 8 and adapted to prevent the lip c or other portions of the packing from catching in projections and from entering deeply any hollow spaces suc'h as the space at the abutting ends of the well-casing pipe'sec' tions, as'shown at Fig. 1. The reinforcement may ofcourse vary; as shown, this comprises a spaced series of laterally revsilient radially placed flat metallic plates12 having rounded ends 16 and' anchoredend portions (for example, providing the hooks 15) and firmly embedded inthe substance of the cup .7. `Preferably the reinforced cups 7, 8 are moulded `at one operation in a mould already containing in proper spaced rela'- tion a sufficient number of plates 12 of suitable material, such as, Sprin`gtempered tool steel. In order to secure` the plates in efficient attachment to the material of the cup,

apertures '13 for How of the rubber' compound-may be' formed in the plates; preferably the apertures are spaced nearer to veach other at and near the lower ends of the plates 1,2 in .order rmly to secure the lower ends in Y the i relatively .rigid material-of the heel portion 28. As vsh'wn the plates 12 are so embeddedwithin the substance ofthe cup as Ito causethe exterior surface of 4the plates te coincide with -the exterior surface of the f v v against the spacing sleeve 11, an annular shoulder 10 being provided in the heel 8 against which thelsleeve 11 is adapted to bear. As so mounted, thelplates '12 severally can yield outwardly with portions of the cu A 7, 8 under very great' pressure develope within the cup and so permit a satisfactory Huid-tight contact between the upper portion of the cupand the wall-of the well-casing 2. Any obstruction encountering the exterior surface of the packing when under pressure will, however, displace the cup and one or more of the plates 12, and thus result in the local depressin only of the margin of the cup, which is the desired effect. The plates 12 not .only serve as skids, runners or guides .for the cup 7 but also to guard the cup from intermediate expansion into the grosser irregularities in the interior cylindrical Surfacev ofthe well-casing, without preventing liquid-tight contact with normal surfaces.

When a relatively greater resilient expan7l nsive freedom of the packing is desired, the

cup 2O and reinforcing plates 12a may have,` the form shown in Fig. 3, presenting av greater longitudinal elongation, of the cup wall 7*", and a greater outward freedom of motion of the plates 12, which may rock at their rounded bottom extremities 21 on the calyx 5 and about the inclusions 22 moulded of the harder portion 8 of the cu in the concentric' holes 23 at their lower en s. Any

desired number of interlocking apertures may be resorted to elsewhere inthe 'platea 12a; Afor example, one only at 25, at the lip end. The harderlip section of Fig. 1 .may be omitted, if this is desirable. It will be observed that expansion of the packingdescribed involye's a stretching in-` crease of-,th'e perimeter fthe moulded cup or sleeve, v "ich hasfbeen contrived tol be permitted without restriction by the metallic reinforcement. Such stretching, on the contrar 'is facilitated by the comparatively sma lproportionof,v the circumferential d1. mension of the packing ocbupied 'by the llesser cross-sectional'.dimensionof the metal reinforcements, which -'nevertheless' are y l highly rigidin a direction radial to the stem and cup,V and there-fore highly effective as- I skids to bridgepdepressions or guides :to avoid locking --col-lisions with projections reinforcements /having an edge coincident With a corresponding surface of said solid.

3. Packingcomprising a vulcanized rubber compound solid of revolution having regions of relatively different flexibility', and reinforcements of eater radial than 'circumferential dimensions moulded into packing comprising an expansible solid of revolution having therein radially placed and longitudinally extending flat metallic reinforcements, and. means for supporting one end of said packingon saidstem.

' 6. In a swabbing device for use in deep Wells, the combination of a stem and an expansible flaring cup packing having regions differing in relative ri idity, in combination With reinforcements ying in radial planes of said cup and on the exterior surface of the cup, and means for supporting one end of said packing on said stem.

47. An integral moulded rubberfcompound swab packing comprising a frusto-conical cup having an intermediate portion of relatively greater fiexibility than the opposed .end portions, and flat reinforcement plates moulded into said 'cup in radial planes and in spaced relationship and having a longitudinal edge coincident with an exterior surface of said cup.

8. A liquid driving plunger comprising a stem, a calyx surrounding said stem, means for supporting the calyx, an expansible rubber-compound cup having a heel in said calyx, said heel being of relativelygreater rigidity than the intermediate portion of the cup, meansi'for holding the cup against said calyx, and a series of reinforcement plates moulded into said cup their greater dimensions lying substantiall llongitudinally and radially of the sai heel and in termediate portions of the cup.

9. A reinforcement plate of resilient mel'.-

al for packing sleeves or cups comprising an elongate flat body having apertures therein and an edge terminating in a rounded` portion.

Signed by me at North Plain'eld, New y lJersey this 3rd day of June, 1924. A y

GEORGE cHRI-sTENsQy-j--N 

